As the year ends I thought it would be fun (at least for me) to look as some numbers for the past year.
The Blog
WordPress kicked off this idea by sending the annual report. I had over a quarter million views and about 80,000 visitors. Thanks to you all and I hope you found the site informative and useful. Both visitors and views are considerably higher than 2014 but views per visitor stayed at 3.21 year-over-year.
This will be my 177th post of the year. It’s 10 more than last year and more than I would have guessed, especially when I think of it as nearly one post every other day.
A thanks to my top referrers:
Also in the top five were Twitter and a Tumblr I run called Fountain Pen Links which is just firehose of pen related links, some of which end up in my Sunday Notes and Links.
The Pens
I added 11 fountain pens to my accumulation in 2015 and I have one more (Edison Pens group buy) paid for and due in early 2016. This continues the downward trend from last year. I never want to actually do the math to total up how much I spent, but while the number of new pens was lower this year I have to believe this year had the highest average cost per pen.
I sold or gave away 15 pens so there was a net decline in my accumulation.
I cleaned out a fountain pen 59 times during the year and have 13 inked up as I enter 2011. Most pens were cleaned after being written dry although a couple went early due to problems or extended non-use. Some fountain pens got multiple fills before being cleaned.
The Inks
I did not do a good job of keeping track of my inks. There are 156 in my spreadsheet but I suspect a few are missing.
I managed to use two bottles of ink enough to empty them – Montblanc Bordeaux (I still have more) and Montblanc Corn Poppy Red. (Yes, I like Montblanc ink.) The Bordeaux was opened last year while the Corn Poppy Red lost some to evaporation as it spent a year in an inkwell.
Number of Montblanc Bordeaux bottles that are still unopened (the most important number of all): 3
The Notebooks
This is the first year in recent memory that I used a notebook or planner for an entire year. I just wrote about that book – the Hobonichi Planner.
Doane Paper is still my most used paper brand. I filled three Large Jotters this year. Mainly work related and other notes taken while working at my desk. I also went through uncountable large writing tablets.
My pocket-sized notebook usage is way down this year. I don’t recall finishing off any of them although I have several in various stages of use.
Happy New Year
I wish you all the best for 2016. It has potential since there’s an extra day which means more fountain pen usage.
Impressive Ray, thanks for the share and it gives me something to aspire to. Though I don’t know if I will be tracking how many times I refilled a pen lol. Happy 2016
Pen flushes are easy to track, each one gets a Ink & Pen Notes post. Refills with the same ink aren’t so easy as I don’t always record them so I didn’t even try to figure them out. 🙂
Thanks for reading,
Ray